In packet-switching telecommunication systems used for speech transmission, voice samples from a talking subscriber are digitally coded and organized into so-called packets before being emitted by a first or transmitting node, connected to the talking subscriber, to a second or receiving node, connected to a listening subscriber, via a routing network interlinking these two terminal nodes. Generally, the packets are of identical length and carry coded headings or labels containing supervisory information such as origin and destination. During periods of coherent speech, referred to hereinafter as talkspurts, the packets follow one another in a continuous sequence at the transmitting node; because of random delays due particularly to variations in traffic density within the routing network, however, these sequences are liable to be disrupted upon arrival at the receiving end. To facilitate the restoration of their continuity at the second node, the packets of a sequence are advantageously labeled with individual identification codes such as serial numbers with the aid of a talkspurt detector at the first node which monitors the digitized voice samples to determine their continuity. Even so, however, the art has not successfully solved the problem of eliminating or at least reducing the incidence of perceptible gaps in the reproduced talkspurts and preventing substantial alterations in the length of intervening pauses.